Jigawa State Governor, Umar Namadi, has declared war on truancy at the grassroots after an unscheduled visit to some local government secretariats on Tuesday exposed massive absenteeism among council chairmen and senior officials.

PUNCH recalled that during the swearing-in of the 27 local government chairmen in 2024, Namadi had warned them against absenteeism and administering their councils from outside.

He had then promised to sanction any chairman found culpable, a warning the latest discovery appears to have violated.

The governor, who stormed the secretariats unannounced, was said to have met empty offices, as virtually all the chairmen and top management staff were conspicuously absent from duty.

Addressing journalists shortly after the surprise inspection on Tuesday, Namadi expressed deep dismay over the development, describing it as undemocratic and unacceptable.

He warned that local government chairmen were elected to serve the people and cannot administer their councils virtually or by proxy.

“If leaders are not in office, who will attend to official duties?” the governor queried.

According to him, “Council chairmen are the engine room of local government administration, and governance at the third tier will remain paralysed if they fail to show up regularly in their offices.”

Namadi maintained that the local government is the closest tier of government to the people and must not be run from outside.

He said, “Local government councils are the closest government to the grassroots. The chairmen must remain on ground and listen to the demands of the people for necessary action.”

“From there, we expect to know challenges that are beyond the councils’ capacity,” he added.

The governor further lamented that if chairmen are always absent from their duty posts, they cannot justify the mandate given to them by the electorate.

He asked, “So, if chairmen are always absent, how can they discharge the responsibilities placed on their shoulders by the teeming electorates?”

Namadi, therefore, vowed that his administration would no longer tolerate such an attitude from any council chairman.

He said, “We will not tolerate this undemocratic behaviour and will take necessary action to tackle it.”

The governor disclosed that he would summon all 27 council chairmen to a meeting where he would read the riot act to them against unnecessary travels outside their local government areas.

Our correspondent reports that the local governments visited by Governor Namadi during the latest unscheduled tour include Kiyawa, Jahun, Miga, Kafin Hausa, Auyo and Hadejia.